There are only two certainties in life: fantastically affluent snobs will kill each other in magnificent houses, and Hercule Poirot will gather them all in a parlor and explain in great detail how he worked out who’s responsible.
On September 28, a new game depicting Agatha Christie’s notoriously eccentric mustachioed Belgian investigator will be released on Steam. And when it does, you’ll be able to put yourself in the shoes of a young Poirot and put your “little grey cells,” as he referred to them, to the test in one of his first cases.
Fans may recall that Poirot was a police officer in pre-war Belgium before becoming a private investigator in England. That is the setting for Agatha Christie–Hercule Poirot: The First Cases, in which the inexperienced investigator attempts to solve the type of upscale murder for which he later became famous.
The announcement from publisher Microids says, “Hercule Poirot is invited to a reception by the powerful Van den Bosch family to celebrate the announcement of their daughter’s engagement.” “However, tensions among the visitors rise when a snowfall devastates the town, locking everyone within the manor. The joyous occasion is shortly tarnished by the murder of one of the attendees! Poirot, being in the right location at the right time, begins his investigation right away.”
A grandiose celebration in a mansion. A posho is frozen. Nobody is allowed to leave. And what if the world’s finest investigator happened to be present? To me, this seems like a Hercule Poirot case.
If you’re unfamiliar with Hercule Poirot’s escapades, you’re in luck: There are nearly a thousand various ways to become acquainted with him, ranging from Agatha Christie books to films such as Murder on the Orient Express (both 1974 and 2017) and Death on the Nile (which is being remade again next year). Poirot has previously appeared in a few other games.
But, in my opinion, the greatest choice is to watch Agatha Christie’s Poirot, the television program starring David Suchet that premiered in 1989 and ended in 2013. Albert Finney, Peter Ustinov, Kenneth Branagh, John Malkovitch, Alfred Molina, and even Tony friggin’ Randall have all played Hercule Poirot. Suchet, on the other hand, will always be the genuine Poirot in my eyes.
Will Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot: The First Cases do honor the world’s greatest detective? In September, we’ll find out.
